Paul Howsley

This book isn’t just a highly enjoyable one, it’s a really important one too.

Set in the very near future, this novel encapsulates the red tape problems of the system which cause poverty and homelessness. Zero hour contracts and their like, work placements serving the quota statistics of politicians rather than the actual people, the injustices of big business tax evasion and all that stuff.

In this story, people on benefits are issued badges to pay for (some) essentials (You can have tea, but not coffee, for example). Therefore, with the help of media spin and sensationalism, people on benefits with badges become known, in derogatory terms, as ‘badgers’. And I loved the fact that the protagonist of this story is simply referred to as Badger, therefore reflecting the everyman(/everywoman) in poverty.

Badger’s tale is an all too familiar one in our current society: you get laid off work, you fight with daily demons of depression and self-worthlessness ‘cos all you want to do is work, but the more time you spend in poverty and loneliness, the harder it is to climb back into the real world, you go round and round in the system, where you get new work only for it to be taken away again, until finally you’re made homeless. This story captures how easily anyone can be made homeless really well.

Once Badger is made homeless, he joins a fast growing group/charity called SayNo, who are people deciding to take matters into their own hands (and Badger soon finds himself playing an important role in the organisation); the government won’t do anything, so let’s cater for the destitute ourselves and fill the empty houses and warehouses etc. (Which reminded me that Brighton once had a Squatters’ Estate Agents which was trying to a do a somewhat similar thing – but which, of course, got shut down after just a few years.)

The writing is easy going, sometimes really funny, sometimes extremely poignant, and occasionally beautiful, and it smacks you round the face with the injustices that are right under our noses. Sure, there were a few niggles to be had with this book, and the type of issues that most Indie debut books suffer from, but they paled into insignificance when the majority was so damn good. Above all, this book gave me hope – hope that we can change things if we really want to and if we all work together. Fuck divide and rule, man!

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone, and I’m certainly looking forward to reading more by Paul Howsley. So stop watching damn TV shows like Benefits Street and read this book instead, ‘cos this is how it really is.
4.5 stars.… (meer)

Paul Howsley’s The Year of the Badgers speaks with a clear voice, one that resonates with the strained timbres of the dispossessed, the neglected and the put-upon. As society struggles with the vast and seemingly insurmountable inequalities that have become ingrained over a time where the grasping few at the top have had it especially good, those at the so-called bottom face the unenviable task of living in a world that doesn’t want to forget them, but hold them up as a distraction and example. So, those without anything are those that the burden of expectation falls upon, scrutinized and stripped of autonomy, their lives under surveillance by the powers that be and the judgements of fellow citizens.

In The Year of the Badgers Paul Howsley takes on the current taste for vilifying the poorest, the circling of the pack to finish off the most vulnerable, and brings this unpalatable aspect down to the reactionary irrational base impulse it represents. Through a balanced account of the inner turmoil of someone trying to do their best and being stripped of basic human dignities in the process Howsley represents the vicious outcome when the human spirit is beaten down. Badger doesn’t ask for much, but is made to feel that even that little piece is unreasonable, and it is truly sad to witness his plight, having the stark ring of a truth that many people are facing that it does.

There is a welcome examination of the media’s part to play in all this, and also the value of mass movements themselves, with much reflection on whether they can achieve a significant impact on any broken establishment. Ultimately, it is compassion and solidarity that drives this book, and the simplicity of its message inspires contemplation as well as a call to action.

The Year of the Badgers is no frills, is honest, and I can feel that the author put a great deal of himself into this book. A few little niggles with the language lead me to a 3.5 ranking, but putting that aside this is a galvanizing read and I very much admire the directness and sincerity on show.… (meer)